Cartoon: Carlos Latuff

 
The illegal South China Sea Arbitration Award released in 2016 is essentially a political circus dressed up as a legal action, and China urged the Philippines to stop citing and hyping up the illegal award, and get back onto the right track of bilateral negotiation for settling the disputes at an early date, a spokesperson from the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines said on Saturday.

The spokesperson's remarks came after the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs released a statement on Friday commemorating the 2016 arbitral award, while the US and some other countries voiced their support for the award on the same day.

The Chinese spokesperson noted that the Philippines violated the article of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) which states that the disputes should be settled through peaceful means including consultations and negotiations between sovereign states directly concerned. It has also abused the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) dispute settlement mechanism, ignored China's declaration which, according to UNCLOS, excludes maritime delimitation from compulsory dispute settlement procedures, while insisted on initiating the arbitration. 

The spokesperson emphasized that the arbitral tribunal in the South China Sea Arbitration exercised its jurisdiction ultra vires and made an illegitimate ruling. The award thus rendered is illegal, null and void, and China does not accept or recognize it, and will never accept any claim or action thereon. This position has won the support and understanding of more than 100 countries. Many international authoritative law experts and scholars have criticized and called into question the integrity of the arbitral award, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that the Philippine side clings onto this illegal, invalid arbitral award at the expense of its relations with China. By aligning itself with the US and some other Western countries on the South China Sea issue, the Philippines joins the small circle of the West ganging up against China. 

The Philippine policy and actions in the South China Sea hinge on the so-called arbitral award and UNCLOS, yet the former of which is a deviation from the latter. This shows how self-contradictory their policies are. To cling to this position and the arbitral award will get the Philippines nowhere but farther and farther away from the right path, the spokesperson warned.

Instead of constituting part of international law, the arbitral award has had an adverse impact on international legal norms. The advisory opinion issued by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea focuses on climate change response and marine environment protection, and doesn't cover issues of territorial and maritime disputes or the validity of arbitral award on the South China Sea, the spokesperson said.

"Any effort to mislead the public by hyping up the arbitration will fail, and is even less likely to morph the null and void award into something legal. Such attempts will never weaken China's firm resolve to defend our territorial integrity and maritime rights and interests," the spokesperson stressed.

With the joint efforts of China and ASEAN countries, the situation in the South China Sea has remained generally stable, the spokesperson said, noting that China stands ready to continue working with ASEAN countries, including the Philippines, to manage maritime differences, deepen maritime cooperation, fully and effectively implement the DOC, actively advance the COC consultation, in an effort to keep the South China Sea peaceful and stable. 

At the same time, China will continue to firmly safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests and continue to resolve maritime disputes through negotiations and consultations with parties directly concerned based on a respect for historical facts and the international law, the spokesperson said.

In response to the US voicing support for the illegal arbitral award, the Chinese spokesperson noted that as the mastermind behind the South China Sea arbitration, the US annually ropes in allies to play up the issue of the illegal award against China in a vain attempt to exert pressure on, and force China into accepting the award. "We are firmly against this. We urge the US and its allies to refrain from making statements and taking actions that disrupt regional peace and stability, and stop being a trouble maker in the South China Sea."

Analysts have noted that the Philippines' celebration of the so-called "8th anniversary" of the illegal arbitration is just a "political show" that is simply a way to perpetuate the "China threat" rhetoric and manipulate international perception, in order to constrain China on the South China Sea issue.